Erdogan says after meeting with Hamas leader that Israel will “pay the price” for its oppression of Palestinians
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has received in Istanbul the political leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, Ismail Haniya, to discuss assistance to Gaza after more than six months of Israeli offensive, the possibilities of a ceasefire and the release of hostages kidnapped by the armed wing of the Islamist organization, according to the official Turkish news agency Anadolu. According to the Turkish channel NTV, Hamas demands that an eventual ceasefire be permanent and not just temporary, as Israel claims.
Erdogan has expressed confidence that “one day Israel will pay the price” for “the oppression it inflicts on the Palestinians” and explained to Haniya that Turkey is “making every effort to establish an independent State of Palestine” and achieve “ “permanent peace” in the region. He has also asked the Hamas leader for Palestinians to “act in unity” in reference to failed attempts to achieve a joint government with the other political factions in Gaza and the West Bank.
The meeting lasted two and a half hours and was also attended by the Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, the head of the secret services, Ibrahim Kalin, the former leader of Hamas Khaled Mashal and other members of the political bureau of the Palestinian organization. Turkey has increased its diplomatic contacts in recent weeks to try to avoid a further escalation of tension in the Middle East, acting as an intermediary between Iran and the United States, and in meetings with neighboring countries and Hamas.
The Turkish president has been highly critical of the killings of Palestinian civilians in the Israeli offensive and has defended Hamas's right to resistance. “I say it loud and clear, Hamas is exactly the same as they were during our War of Independence [1919-23] the Nationalist Forces. I know that saying this has a price,” Erdogan said this week, comparing the Palestinian militiamen with the militias that, led by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, would end up expelling the powers that occupied Anatolia after World War I. World. But this closeness to Hamas on the part of the Turkish Islamist government means that Israel does not trust Turkish attempts at mediation.
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